Watson halts ranking slide with third title
HEATHER WATSON gave her watching mum Michelle a huge Mother’s Day hug last night after winning the Monterrey Open in Mexico. The 23-year-old consolidated her position as the British No 2 by beating Kirsten Flipkens 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the Final of the £160,000 tournament. It was the third title that Watson has won on the main WTA Tour after Osaka and Hobart, and reverses the slide in her ranking that had seen her slip to No 84 in the world. In fact, this was the best tennis she has produced since her near miss against Serena Williams at Wimbledon last summer. Watson took away £30,000 after winning the last three games, having been 3-1 up in the decider. She now heads to Indian Wells in California this week. ‘I’m extremely happy,’ she said. ‘It was tough and I was nervous coming into the match. ‘I had never beaten Kirsten before and she always makes you work hard for it. I got frustrated in the first set but I had to stay calm.’ Meanwhile, speculation was rife about Maria Sharapova’s future last night after the Russian called a Press conference to make what was termed a ‘major announcement’. The 2004 Wimbledon champion will speak in Los Angeles at around 8pm UK time, with the rumour being she is about to retire from the sport. Sharapova has played only three tournaments in the past eight months and has recently had a succession of problems with her right arm and shoulder, the latter having already required surgery in 2008. It would appear likely that her career has hit another hiatus, and in recent days the world No 7 said she was withdrawing from the Indian Wells event this week. If Sharapova does signal the end of her career on court, she will not be short of ways to keep busy as she has her own tennis clothing line, designs shoes and handbags, and owns sweet company Sugarpova.